The Maiden's Vow
by Alex-2598
Summary: Wanting what you can't have is the story of Percy and Bianca's relationship. But when they're faced with a life or death situation in the junkyard of the gods, they are forced to make a decision: resist their feelings or give in to them. For in a few short moments, they may be torn apart forever.
1. The Maiden's Vow

_Canon change: Bianca is 14 _

_This may be a one-shot or I may add another chapter or two, not sure yet._

* * *

"Crazy idea time."

"Anything," says Bianca.

"Okay, there's a maintenance hatch under its foot. There may be a way to control the thing, switches or something. I'm going to try to get inside."

What? Was he insane? Or suicidal? Or both? Bianca cursed herself. Why did the thought of Percy putting himself in harm's way like this make her so much more terrified? The truth is, she knows the answer, she just can't bring herself to accept it. The amszing thing was that it had crept up on her almost imperceptibly, starting with the moment she had first accidentally gazed into his sea-green eyes at the Winter Dance at Westover. That felt like ages ago now. It had continued when he had risked his life to protect her against the maniacal Dr. Thorn. That was when the hunters had arrived, and when Artemis offered her a place in the hunt, Bianca had only two reservations: one was her only remaining family, her little brother, Nico. The other was Percy. True, she'd hardly known him, but there had been a connection, or at least the beginnings of one. As soon as she took the oath, that connection was no longer allowed. So when Percy had secretly followed them on their quest to rescue Artemis, to say Bianca had mixed feelings would have been a massive understatement. Her head was telling her this: She was a huntress, she took a vow to Artemis, a vow to remain a maiden forever. Her heart was telling her this: Percy was kind, thoughtful, witty, and just clueless enough to be cute. His good looks didn't hurt either. She couldn't deny it any longer, vow or not, she liked him. And so she'd found her loyalties torn, because she still liked a lot of things about the hunt too, the freedom, the sense of belonging, the idea of a family who would always be there for you. So she'd restrained herself as much as possible when around Percy, she'd kept her oath. None of that was enough to stop the frantic pounding of her heart now.

"How? You'll have to stand under its foot to get in! You'll be crushed!"

"Cause a distraction, I'll just have to time it right."

She can't let him die like this. "No. I'll go," she says, determination in her voice.

This time it's Percy who is unable to hide his shock. "But you're new at this! You'll die!"

Bianca shakes her head. "Its my fault the monster came after us, now its my responsibility. I have to make it right." Before Percy can say anything, she picks up the little metal statue, the only one not in Nico's collection. She was supposed to give it to him, now she might never see the big smile on his face, never hear him rattle off Mythomagic stats from memory...

"Here," she says, "give this to Nico and tell him...tell him I'm sorry."

But Percy doesn't take the statue, instead, he takes Bianca's hand and pulls her closer, so she can't run off. "I can't do that Bianca. I made a promise too, that I would look after you. And- and I won't let you throw your life away. You have everything to live for."

_Not everything. Not if you die. _

Zoe Nightshade is distracted, she and the others are too busy fending off Talos. So Bianca makes a split second decision. Then she does the one thing she can't do, becuase she may never get a chance to do it again. She breaks her vow.

The kiss is sudden, it catches Percy by surprise at first, but he wraps his arms around her and reciprocates. And for just one brief moment, everything else has fallen away, and the two of them are the center of the universe.

When they pull back, reality hits, in a few seconds, one of them is probably going to die. Bianca still wants to go, but Percy closes her hand around the statue and quietly says, "I'm sorry, Bianca." Then he uncaps Riptide and charges at the mechanical monstrosity.

"What are you doing?" Zoe screams at Percy.

"Get it to raise its foot!" Percy replies. Thalia and Zoe hurl projectile after projectile, bolts of lightning and arrows, while Percy slashes at its foot, hoping to bait it into stomping on him. Sure enough, Talos is rearing up...

Just as another bolt hits him, then an arrow to the face. While Talos tries to regain its bearings, Percy opens the maintenance hatch, just as the foot comes thundering down, and crawls inside the belly of the beast.

As he sits in the cockpit and prepares to take control, it occurs to him that he will almost certainly die here. In fact, if he presses the red button that looks an awful lot like a self-destruct...well that would make it a formality. Strangely though, in this moment of impending doom, the only thing he can think about right now is his final moments with Bianca. Maybe it was best that they parted when they did. He and a huntress? According to the law of Artemis, absolutely, 100% forbidden. And yet he loved her, the kiss was just a confirmation of that. Now that he was about to die, he could finally admit that to himself. If only he could have told her too.

Bianca and the others watch in awe as Talos begins to beat itself up. "Go Percy!" She cheers in spite of herself, feeling pride in Percy for succeeding in his mission.

"He is _inside_?" Zoe says in shock.

Talos starts running towards them, they sprint down the highway.

"How is he going to get out of there?" Thalia yells. And the reality starts to hit Bianca then. Percy is trapped.

Talos stumbles and staggers, pieces of it falling off, straight towards a row of power lines.

"Look out!" Bianca cries, but its too late, Talos plows through the lines and instantly lights up like a Christmas tree as electric voltage surges through its body. Could Percy have survived that?

Talos is still running, now back towards the junkyard, but now bigger pieces are falling off, then one arm, then the other. Finally the giant shudders, then crumbles altogether amid the horrible screech of tearing metal, from the head down, and leaves behind a massive trail of wreckage.

"No!" Thalia screams.

"Percy!" Grover bleats.

Bianca is silent, even as tears come to her eyes and her heart rises to her throat. She never should have let him get in that thing. She should have stopped him, if she could have just-

"Foolish boy, what on earth was he thinking?" Zoe says.

Bianca knows she should keep her mouth shut, but... "He saved our lives! Now we have to find him!"

"Percy! Percy!" Thalia and Grover are already digging through the debris, desperately trying to locate their friend.

"Bianca-" Zoe starts, but Bianca is in no mood for a lecture. Not when Percy is somewhere in there, dying.

They search all night till the dawn breaks, no sign of Percy. Bianca doesn't want to accept it, she can't accept it.

"We have to keep searching," she says. If she has to dig through every scrap heap in this godsforesaken junkyard to find Percy, she will do so.

Thalia and Grover have tears in their eyes, even Zoe is emotional.

"I was wrong about him," the lieutenant of the hunt says at last in a quiet voice. "He was not like other men...not like Hercules, he was indeed a hero."

"I just-" Grover chokes up. "I can't believe-"

"Come on, guys! It's dawn now, we can continue looking!" Bianca urges. They can't give up now. But Grover shakes his head.

"No. It happened just like it was supposed to." He stops mid-sob, unable go on any further, so Thalia finishes the thought

"_One shall be lost in the land without rain." _Thalia says as she angrily slams her spear into the ground. "Damned prophecy, we never should've-..." Then a long pause, Thalia is composing herself, or trying to anyways. Her voice still comes out with a noticeable quiver. "I'm sorry Bianca. Grover is right. Percy's- Percy's gone."

It's as though her world completely shatters when she hears those words. _Percy's gone_.

"No, no, he's alive, he _has _to be alive!"

"Bianca please-" Thalia tries to put an arm around her, but Bianca pushes it away.

"You don't understand, none of you do!"

Grover tries to speak next. "We all want Percy to be alive, Bianca, but-"

"It should've been me," she says, quietly.

Just then, there's another sound, a familar rattling, like...like the skeletons that attacked them earlier. Now they're coming through the junkyard, towards Talos' remains. What if they find Percy, alive somewhere in the debris, on the brink of death? What if they-

Bianca doesn't wait to find out, she charges. The others call out at her to stop, but she ignores them. Her heart is pounding like crazy again, if there's even a chance he's alive down there...she has to find and protect him.

The skeletons turn when they see her, they prepare to charge. Bianca feels something in her gut tugging, a valve waiting to be turned on, coiled up tension yearning to be released. Anger, grief, loss, revenge. _You will pay for what you did to him. _"Leave us alone and go back where you came from!" Bianca yells as she stamps her foot. Suddenly, a crevice opens in the earth and swallows the skeletons whole. Her rage vanishes as quickly as it came, replaced by shock. Did she really just do that? As she turns around, now feeling totally exhausted and emotionally drained, she sees the others staring at her in disbelief.

"A child of Hades..." Thalia says slowly.

"The prophecy..." Grover adds breathlessly.

They're saying more, but Bianca is too weak to hear, she sinks to her knees, it's as if someone has drained all the life itself from her. The last thing she feels is Grover catching her as she passes into darkness. Maybe now, in death, she will be reunited with Percy Jackson, the boy she loves.


	2. New Life

This story is a personal favorite of mine. Percy/Bianca is such a rare pairing in this community, but it has potential. I think it's worth continuing this story to see where it goes.

* * *

_"Bianca..."_

Bianca didn't want to wake up. In her dream, she was standing in front of a beautiful 19th century style manor, the kind of house she had always dreamed of living in. The house was just one in a row of many, all of them from different periods of history, even back to ancient Greece and Rome. All were flawlessly designed, with vibrant gardens of flowers blooming in every imaginable color. It reminded her of one of the novels she'd read from her youth, Thomas More's _Utopia_.

"Welcome home, my daughter."

Bianca whirled around, the man now standing in front of her looked familiar somehow. He was tall and imposing, wrapped in black robes that matched his long, unkempt hair and fiery charcoal eyes. His deep, gravelly voice echoed, as though they were speaking in a tunnel. He looked like a life-sized version of the Mythomagic statue she was going to give to Nico. The only one not yet in his collection. Hades.

"You're Hades." Bianca stated aloud, just to confirm to herself that this was real.

"Yes,' the man replied, as if this should be obvious.

"And you're my father."

"Bianca di Angelo, sister of Nico, daughter of Maria. I think I would recognize one of my only two living children."

"Am I dead?" Bianca asked quietly.

"Hm..." Hades checked a clipboard that Bianca could've sworn wasn't there a moment ago. "Thanatos truly is an efficient fellow, he keeps me up to the minute on these things..." Hades shook his head. "It appears you are technically still alive, for now anyways."

"For now?"

_"Bianca..."_

Hades looked at Bianca with a gaze that might have been melancholy, it was difficult to tell when he continually exuded an aura of intimidation.

"Do you like your home? I designed it myself, naturally, knowing you so well." Hades made a sweeping gesture with his arm, causing Bianca to look back again at the house. It was perfect, in fact, it was too perfect. Bianca managed to tear her eyes away and forced herself to look at Hades again.

"It's amazing...but where am I?"

Hades clasped his hands. "I would have thought you'd have guessed by now, child. You're in Elysium, the resting place of heroes."

"The afterlife..." Bianca responded, a distant tone to her voice. She could feel whatever life she had left slowly slipping away.

Really, she wasn't sure how to react. She supposed most people would be overjoyed about going to heaven, but there were still so many unanswered questions...

"What about Percy?" She asked suddenly, surprising herself. This was the closest she'd come to speaking of her feelings for Percy with anyone else.

Hades nodded, a look of irritation creeping onto his face at the familiar name. "Ah yes, Perseus Jackson. Believe me, I would know if he were dead."

"Well?" Bianca asked inpatiently.

Hades sighed dramatically, like someone about to deliver the worst possible news. "Unfortunately, as of this moment, we cannot confirm Percy Jackson's death. But that is not why we are here. Come now, your eternal abode awaits," he said, rushing over the revelation as if it were an unremarkable fact.

_"Bianca!..."_

Bianca shook her head. "Wait a minute, you said I was alive "for now", what did you mean?"

Hades tsk tsked at her. "The rules of Death are far too complicated for me to explain to anyone in a mere dream. Let's put it this way: once you set foot in this house, which I should again point out was designed especially for you by me, your dear father, your life in the real world will end and you shall fully enter Elysium. Sound simple enough?"

Bianca looked once more at the exquisite manor, was she really going to give this up? Give up eternal life in paradise for the slim chance that Percy was still alive, that he still felt the same way, and that she wouldn't be punished severely by Artemis for violating her oath? It sounded insane, even to her. Bianca felt her lips slowly curl into a smile. People did insane things for love. And before she could change her mind, she was looking into the eyes of the lord of the underworld, her father, with what she hoped was a courageous glare.

"I can't."

It was Hades' turn to shake his head. "Offers like this don't grow on trees, child."

_Neither do guys like Percy_, Bianca wanted to say.

"My decision is final," Bianca replied.

"Just like her mother, this one," Hades muttered to himself. "Very well. When you wake, you will be back in the world of the living."

At that moment, everything went dark. The voice in her head wouldn't go away though.

_"Bianca!..."_

It had sounded soft and far away at first, then grew steadily louder.

_"Bianca!..." _

Her eyes fluttered open.

"Bianca!"

Grover, Thalia and Zoe were kneeling around her in an awkward semicircle. Their faces were awash in pain an exhaustion, but in the moment she first returned their concerned glares, she thought she saw a glimmer of hope in their eyes.

"You're awake! Thank the gods!" Grover exclaimed.

"How are you feeling?" Thalia asked frantically, gently touching Bianca's forehead. "We thought we'd lost you!"

"I- I was-" Even though she was certain now that she was alive, Bianca knew that hadn't been the case just moments ago. She'd been on the brink of death. What happened? It had been some kind of dream. She was about to go somewhere, somewhere wonderful, but she couldn't accept because something, or someone, was missing.

"Spare thy breath, brave one, I will get ambrosia for thee," Zoe said kindly, and within seconds Bianca felt the square sliding over her tongue as Zoe fed it to her. The taste was warm and pleasant, like homemade cooking. It also sharpened Bianca's me memories. Now she recalled her dream vividly. She had been about to die, that much she knew. Hades was there...her father, Hades. He was offering her a hero's welcome to Elysium, and she turned it down because of something he'd said...something about Percy...

"Percy..." Bianca muttered out loud.

"We couldn't find him, Bianca, I'm sorry," Thalia said. Her eyes were red from crying, and so were Grover's. Even Zoe looked as upset as Bianca had seen her in the short time since they'd met.

"He was my best friend," Grover sighed. "I guess I just thought that after all we'd been through together...I never thought it would end like this."

Bianca still felt too weak to stand, but she was alert enough to have recalled exactly what Hades had told hers "Percy's...alive...Hades couldn't say for sure..."

"Hades? Your father?" Thalia seemed more curious now. "Did you have a dream Bianca? Was Hades there?"

The ambrosia was really starting to work now. Bianca slowly pulled herself up to a sitting position, despite Zoe's insistence that she needed to rest. "Yes. I was in the Underworld, Hades was offering me Elysium."

"You turned down Elysium?" Thalia asked in shock.

"I had no choice. Hades said that Percy was still alive."

"He did?" Grover suddenly seemed much more hopeful.

"Well...it was more like he said that Percy's death had not been confirmed."

Zoe shook her head. "Giving up Elysium for a boy who may or may not even be alive? If it were anyone else, Bianca, I would have to say thy sanity had deserted thee, and I still believe that to be true. However, for Percy Jackson, I can at the very least understand thy madness." the Lieutenant of the Hunt smiled sadly.

Bianca wasn't sure what she was doing, but suddenly she placed a hand on the ground beneath her and felt it tremble ever so briefly, as if something or someone was trying to give her a sign. In that moment it was as if she could sense the life force of every soul in the world, living and dead, and that was when she knew. "I know he's alive."

Thalia and Grover didn't look so sure, but Zoe seemed to have caught on before anyone else. "Tis the blessing of Hades, or curse, however one chooses to see it."

"Blessing of Hades?" All Bianca knew was that she had felt a surge of power and wisdom for that brief moment, similar to when she had banished the skeleton warriors earlier. Could this really be something Hades would pass on to his children?

"Only the most powerful would receive this gift," Zoe muttered, as if reading Bianca's mind. "The ability to glimpse the list of life and death."

"Um, excuse me...the list of life and death?" Grover gulped.

"The list that Thanatos, aka Death, carries with him at all times," Thalia explained. She was starting to catch on to what Zoe was saying. "The list contains the name of every soul that has ever existed, living and dead, neatly categorized of course, because Death is nothing if not orderly. It doesn't contain creatures without mortal souls, like satyrs."

Grover breathed a big sigh of relief at the last statement. "And this list...a child of Hades can see it?"

"It was often said in ancient times that the children of Hades were the most powerful of the Big Three's offspring because they had incredible power in the realm of life and death. If Bianca possesses such an ability, then it would confirm what we already know, that she had her brother were highly powerful, unusually so in fact." Thalia continued. "That's why Chiron sent three of us, he knew the importance of getting them to safety before our enemies got to them."

"Excuse me, I'm right here," Bianca was standing now, she still didn't feel completely well in her mind, and she wouldn't as long as Percy was out there, possibly dying, but physically, she had mostly recovered from her earlier outburst.

Thalia gave her a sympathetic gaze. "I'm sorry, Bianca, we didn't mean to leave you out, it's just- this is a very complicated topic. Even we aren't sure what to make of it."

"What more is there to make of it? I sensed it, he was alive. We need to find him."

"We are already running behind schedule as it is," Zoe interjected. "If he is alive, then the fates have willed it, and he will find his way to us one way or the other. We must keep the focus on what we can control, and that is to continue this quest and rescue the Lady Artemis."

"But-"

Zoe suddenly moved closer to Bianca and embraced her. "Artemis can assist you far better than any of us, I will plead personally on thy behalf."

"You will?"

Zoe stepped back, the look in her eyes was as solemn as ever, yet also caring. _She really does see me as a sister_, Bianca realized, and she felt the same way. "I give thee my word as a hunter, and as a friend."

Bianca took a deep breath. She was ready. "Okay. Let's finish this quest."

_And somewhere out there, I know you're still alive, Percy. No matter where I have to go or what I must face, I will find you. That's one vow I'll never break._


End file.
